12 dead from drug violence in Mexican state

MORELIA, Mexico 
Gunmen killed 12 people in different parts of Michoacan state, including three men who were beheaded, state officials said Friday.

The bodies were found in a stretch of territory from the mountains to the Pacific coast that is plagued with drug cartel violence.

All were killed during a 24-hour period starting Thursday, the Michoacan state prosecutor's office said.

Four bodies were found stacked on top of each other in the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas, three without heads, the office said in a statement. The heads were in plastic bags next to the pile.

Also Friday, authorities in Piedras Negras – in Coahuila state, bordering Texas – found the body of a man whose fingers had been cut off. Santos Vasquez of the northern regional office of the state prosecutor said assailants stuck one finger in the man's mouth and cut out his tongue – a kind of torture often used by cartels to retaliate against snitches.

A message next to the bullet-riddled body read: "You don't mess with us, we won't mess with you."

Drug violence has killed more than 10,670 people in Mexico since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched a national crackdown against organized crime. Most of the killings have been between rival gangs fighting turf battles.